35 Year Waltz

“Bruce always knows how to help with any project. I’ll never forget his famous saying, ‘Get back to work!’” - Nolan H. Simmons

Bruce Allen

SEPTEMBER 12 - NOVEMBER 25, 2019
Bruce Allen exhibits artworks of observation, exploration, and experimentation from a 35-year waltz with the Centenary College of Louisiana Department of Art. His work dances around irony and social commentary as he strives to communicate aesthetic concepts using humor and seriousness, playfulness and structure, plus an intimate knowledge of a variety of materials and techniques. 

A small selection of works created by Willard Cooper was displayed upstairs, along with Legacy: An Alumni Art Show, providing illustrative bookends to Bruce Allen’s career and influence at Centenary College.

 

Legacy: An Alumni Art Show

Featured Alumni

  • Shelton Meacham 

  • Eric Francis

  • Luke H. Edmonson

  • Nolan H. Simmons

  • Laura Giacalone 

  • Dellanee Faith Wade

  • Kedrick S. Williams

  • Breanna Christie 

  • Caitlin Lindsay Rose 

  • Julianne Smoak 

  • Whitney Tates 

  • Autumn G. Casaus 

  • Kirk A. Reedstrom 

  • Alan D. Arthur 

 
 

Willard Cooper

(1921 - 2007) 

An influential figure in Shreveport, Willard Cooper’s contributions to Centenary College began in his years here as an undergraduate student. After graduating in 1947, he went on to pursue his graduate degree in Mexico, returning to Shreveport to teach after the death of Don Brown. Not only the founder and first director of the Meadows Museum, he solicited and procured the Despujols collection and persuaded Algur Meadows to donate the money necessary to create and endow the museum. Over the years, he also served as Professor of Art, as well as Chair of the Art Department. His enduring legacy can still be felt in the physical space at Centenary and also includes his instrumental efforts in successfully turning the old President’s House into Turner Art Center. All the while, he continued to produce work and was an accomplished artist in his own right; we honor some of that work here today. 

Willard Cooper’s long-lasting influence on Bruce Allen and the many other students that came through his studio were most strongly felt through his support of their individuality. He intended to inspire original thinkers and makers, never to develop clone artists that would be making work that either copied his style or that was done solely to please him. His “hands-off” approach was supportive of both traditional and experimental work as long as it was done with personal passion and evidenced hard work. ‘Get to Work!’, a familiar phrase heard by students of Allen over the decades, was his phrase, a legacy carried on through the years by Professor Bruce Allen.